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Tag: fake

  • Gaidam joins Nafdac to fight fake drugs

    Gaidam joins Nafdac to fight fake drugs

    The war against fake drugs has   received a boost in Yobe State, with Governor Ibrahim Gaidam directing the  Commissioner for Land to provide land for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to build its offices.

    He asked the Head of Service to provide office accommodation for the agency in the two senatorial districts to reduce the logistic challenges  facing NAFDAC.

    Gaidam, who promised to provide a vehicle to the agency to assist it in patrolling the state, said the donations were in demonstration of  the government’s commitment to assisting NAFDAC to rid the state  of drug misuse and poor handling of pesticides and agro-chemicals.

    He made the donations during a visit by the NAFDAC’s Acting Director-General, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, in his office.

    Mrs Oni was on the visit to inform the governor of the agency’s campaign on “Rational use of controlled medicines, safe handling of chemicals and responsible use of pesticides and agricultural chemicals” in the state.

    The campaign, Mrs Oni said, would empower people with the right knowledge in drug misuse and proper handling of agro-chemicals.

    While declaring the sensitisation workshop open, Gaidam described the initiative as a bold step by the NAFDAC to enlighten the public about the dangers of irrational use of drugs, pesticides and chemicals.

    He said: “This way, the public will be kept abreast of the unpleasant consequences for society if left unchecked.”

    Earlier, Mrs.  Oni, who presented the requests for land and accommodation to the governor, said the NAFDAC’s office, a warehouse and a laboratory complex would be built on the land, adding that they would enhance the performance of the agency in the state via shortening the registration and bringing the agency closer to the grassroots.

    Mrs. Oni said the enlightenment was one of the strategies deployed by NAFDAC to fight substandard and falsified medical products, unwholesome and spurious regulated products.

    “We will continue to sensitise the public on the public health implications of these substandard, falsified and unwholesome regulated products and the efforts of NAFDAC in tackling this ugly menace,” she said.

    She added that collaboration was essential to building sustainable strategies against these problems in addition to other challenges, such as drug abuse as well as misapplication of pesticides and herbicides, which have led to the rejection of these value-added agricultural products in the international market.

    According to her, the health implication caused by this challenge informed the efforts of NAFDAC to educate farmers, herders and other handlers on the appropriate and safe use of pesticides, and develop Guidelines and Standard Operating  Procedure for Chemical Regulation and Control to address emerging issues.

    She added: “Risk assessment and Field Trials of fertiliser have been introduced for effective control and management of agrochemicals.”

    Mrs. Oni implored Nigerians to continue to support NAFDAC in the fight against the proliferation of substandard and falsified medical products, unwholesome food and other substandard or spurious regulated products.

  • Alert! Fake muslim group emerges

    Preamble

    Today’s article is starting with apology to the readers of ‘The Message’ for the inability of their beloved column to float on this page last Friday. It was due to a fortuitous failure of technology which yours sincerely was unable to prevent.

     

    About Ramadan

    Ordinarily, if ‘The Message’ had been out in this column last Friday, it would have been about the divine month that seasonally comes into the world to serve as the month of all months and the global guest of all seasons.

    Regrettably however, today’s article is still not about Ramadan and that is due to a development, last week, that called for and deserves an urgent attention in this column today. A whole month is ahead of us, commencing from next week, in which we can address Ramadan from all conceivable angles. We pray the Almighty Allah to spare our lives.

     

    ‘Opium of the People’

    In spite of the quoted maxim (by an American poet) at the opening of this article, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for religious acrimony and malice in the Southwest of Nigeria.

    The battle for peoples’ souls in the name of God continues to rage unabatedly between the Christians and the Muslims in the region albeit on a disguised platter of materialism. It is difficult to pinpoint with certainty, a dominant colour in a rainbow. The eyes that saw clearly in the dark yesterday may become dim in sighting an object through a bright light today. Thus, in a world where religion has virtually become Karl Marx’  “opium of the people”, it may be difficult to prove that the rampant, deafening noises over religion in contemporary Nigeria is more about obedience to God than loyalty to material wealth. Otherwise, why is a choice of the path to Paradise or to Hell not left to the liberty of every individual without any interference? If genuinely embraced, religion should be a matter of conscience which no mortal being should endeavour to Judge upon. But the contrary is the case in Nigeria. And the real problem area is the Southwest region where no business thrives better than religion. It is quite evident that the foremost industry in the Southwest of Nigeria today is a religious solo with different choruses.

     

    Strange ‘Muslim’ Group

    Last week, the attention of ‘The Message’  column was drawn to a media altercation between a famous Non-Governmental Organization called Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) and  a fake group named ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition’ (OMC).

    The Director of MURIC is Ishaq Lakin Akintola a Professor of Islamic Eschatology at the Lagos State University (LASU), whose versatility in the propagation of Islam through  human rights advocacy is  well known nationally and inyernationally.

     

    Oodua Muslim Coaliition’

    The so-called Oodua Muslim Coalition (OMC), on the other hand, is so obscure and so fraudulent that no Muslim of note will want to associate with it because of its vague antecedent. Its name alone is

    questionable.

    To which Oodua is the amorphous group claiming to be related or affiliated? Is it Oodua, the acclaimed primogenitor of the entire Yoruba tribe who was never related to Islam in any way or Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), which lays no claim to any religion?

     

    The Mission of OPC

    To the best knowledge of all Yoruba sons and daughters all over the world, OPC is a trbal youth pressure group in Yoruba land, just like Egbesu of Ijaw tribe, or Massop or IPOB in Igbo land or ACF in the north. And, like those of others, OPC has  no religious inclination in its agenda. It is rather a conglomeration of all comers in Yoruba land irrespective of religious convictions or dialects. If religion has truly crept into OPC, then Christian counterpart of OMC would have emerged. And that would have signaled an albatross for Yoruba as a

    distinct tribal entity.

    The fact that some people choose to be Christians while others choose to be Muslims does not confer superiority on some people as an instrument of oppression over others.

    The faceless elements behind the so-called OMC must have lost any memory of the possible consequences of their fraudulent plot to use Islam as an instrument of balkanization of the Yoruba land along religious lines. Such is often the case with shallow-minded people whose only focus is the momentary crump they would pick under the dining tables of their masters.

     

    The Press Conspiracy

    Using the Southwest media to baptize the arrival of its clandestine but nefarious plot under the cover of Islamic religion, this amorphous group recently issued a hateful press statement in which it attacked and blackmailed the entire Southwest Muslims calling them names and labeling them  ‘Agents of Hausa Fulani of the North’.

    Unfortunately the same Southwest media has never seen the association of the Southwest people with those of the Southeast and South-south in their joint campaign for secession from the commonwealth of Nigeria in the same vein.  OMC’s press statement which was aimed at attack Professor Lakin Akintola of MURIC was foolishly turned into a general tool with which to throw away Islam’s baby with the bathwater in the Southwest.

    Even the duo of one Mallam Lateef Adeyera and an Alhaji Ambali Olubodun Noibi who sheepishly but mischievously signed the obnoxious statement as Chairman and Secretary General respectively could not delineate between the sensible and the insensible  if only for firming up their flanks of tribal pedigree.

     

    Clarification

    For clarification, the Muslim Ummah of the Southwest which is the umbrella body for all the State Muslim Councils/Communities as well as Organizations in the six State of the Southwest reagion. And, if as the Southern counterpart of Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI) in the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), which has the record of all legitimate Muslim Organizations in the Southwest, does not know the so-called ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition’ what is the antecedent of that fraudulent group?

    It is therefore necessary here to warn all genuine Muslim Councils, Communities and Organizations as well as indiduals in the region to beware of certain evil elements who are now parading themselves as Muslim groups or Associations  with the intent of constituting a spiritual virus in the region, Their objective is to break the ranks of the Ummah in order to subject the Muslims to the manacle of Satan..

     

    Press Statement

    In the press statement that the so-called OMC issued recently, the faceless but highly diabolical group adopted the well known tactic and vulgar language characteristic of certain self-acclaimed Yoruba

    leaders.

    These elements and their cohorts are notorious for creating amorphous proxies and using them for their anti-Islamic agenda and other evil machinations. Thus, whenever such proxies raise their heads and attempt to dance like a dragon on the surface of a brook, we should automatically know where the drummers are hiding.

    Evil Agents

    The contents and language of the said press statement by the so-called OMC could not have come as a surprise to any genuine Muslim Organization  because it has become a recurrent decimal in from their

    masters.

    As a divisive gimmick, in the said press statement, the amorvous group, like those of its senior brothers in their clandestine game, told the Southwest Muslims generally, to stop cooperating with the northern Muslims whom it described as enemies of the Yoruba people. It also went ahead to ask them to drop their Islamic identity for a new toga of Yoruba irredentism of the primitive era.

     

    Unity as Headache

    Apparently disturbed by the progressive unity between the Northern and Southwestern Muslims, under the banner of NSCIA, the YSF proxy calling itself OMC ignorantly insinuated that accepting the leadership of the President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad

    Abubakar, CFR, mni, could not profit the Southwest Muslims. It will be recalled that a similar press statement was issued in November 2015 in which one obvious renegade by the name Yinka Odumakin singled out  the venerable personality of the Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Professor D. O. S. Noibi, OBE, DSc. FISN for a venomous attack just because the latter signed a MUSWEN press release that objected to Afenifere’s threat of secession bid at that time.

     

    Putting the Record Straight

    Ordinarily, MUSWEN, as a responsible Islamic body with millions of Muslim members, would not have reacted to such frivolities, but when some bread and butter parasites in the society attempt to distort plain facts and replace truth with falsehood, ‘The Message’ as an Islamic column will be left with no choice than to put the records straight.

    It is immoral for those who in their actions, utterances and body languages, swallow the Christian doctrine hook, line and sinker to hide under unbridled tribal irredentism   to want to prevent  the Muslims of the Southwest Nigeria from associating with their brothers and sisters in other parts of the country.

     

    Not a Secular Country

    Nigeria is a multi-religious and nor a secular country as often claimed by mischievous elements to suit their evil desire. In a country where all citizens are at liberty to choose and practice their religions, no religious bigots have any right to want to prevent other religious groups from practicing their faith.

     

    Euphoria of the past

    Those who are still basking in the now forgotten euphoria of the colonial era should wake up from their slumber and face the reality of the moment. Nigeria is not the the lad of anybody’s father and nobody can claim ownership of it.

     

    Language of Communication

    English language is no longer anybody’s monopoly and it can no longer be used to bamboozle any group into a new slavery or colonialism as in the past. We are all Nigerians. The meaning of the opening poem in this article should suffice for people who can correctly reason. Islam is not for sale in the Southwest Nigeria. Ramadan Karim in advance!

  • Over 70% of drugs in circulation is fake, says firm

    More than 70 per cent of is fake, the Executive Director, Fidson Health Care Plc, Bola Adebayo, has said.

    Adebayo regretted that the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has failed to curtail the circulation of fake drugs.

    He also blamed the situation on the abscence of genuine drugs manufacturers in the hinterland, as many  are concentrated in big cities.

    He told The Nation that the gap created by lack of genuine manufacturers in the hinterland has led to the over-bearing presence of counterfeit drugs in villages and semi-urban centres in the country.

    On the challenges faced by his members, he said before now manufacturers literarily ran out of raw materials as a result of forex scarcity.

    He, however, praised the apex bank for bending backwards recently by giving them concessionary rate to keep their factories running. He said this has prevented what would have resulted in mass closure of factories.

    Adebayo confirmed that most drug firms are encouraging the Federal Government’s Backward Integration Policy by insisting that they buy pet bottles and glasses locally.

    On the challenges facing the sector, he recalled that they spend over 50 per cent of their working capital on electricity generation.

    “Electricity is not available and where it is available it is not usable. We provide our water, security, roads, access to market and debts from both State and Federal Governments,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) has concluded plans to hold a forum on: Improving Access to Medicines: The Imperatives of Local Manufacturing and Effective Supply Chain Management.

    The Executive Secretary of PMG, Mr. Obi Adigwe. said that the group, with about 120 members, was desirous of bringing high quality, affordable, sustainable pharmaceuticals closer to the people.

    He called for a concept that will guarantee medicine security and sustainable access to the people in the hinterland.

    Adigwe said there is need for the support of Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN), which represents the country’s foremost private sector platform.

    The platform is led by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr. Jim Ovia, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede  and others. It has the target to save a million lives every year through various innovations including the setting up of the Africa Resource Centre for Supply Chain (ARC Nigeria).

    Adigwe said the forum hopes to deepen the debate regarding the most effective and efficient strategies to ensure sustainable access to affordable, high quality medicines for Nigerians.

    CEO, Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria, Mr. Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, regretted that Nigeria has a complex healthcare system and pledged the preparedness of his organisation to optimise the nation’s innate abilities.

    He identified the challenges to include fiscal policies, taxes, regulatory agencies; supply chain, which has made it almost impossible for the majority of the people in the rural areas to have access to quality medication.

    Umar-Sadiq called for the reorientation of sovereignty and ownership by the Nigerian government and policy makers to move the country away from being a dumping ground for all manner of products.

    He said: “We should take the issue of health care for the majority of the citizenry as a priority and that of national security. The idea is to prioritise sovereignty over aids and grant.

    “Why should we allow our country to be a testing ground for all manner of vaccines and drugs? What our manufacturers need is encouragement and the provision of an enabling environment with the required and competitive infrastructure.”

  • Fake police inspector held at Oshodi

    Fake police inspector held at Oshodi

    Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) operatives yesterday arrested a man described as a fake police officer.

    Faith Sunday John, 32, was said to have been parading himself as a police inspector attached to the Ikeja Police Command. The task force said he initially claimed to be a commercial bus driver.

    Parading the suspect, task force Chairman Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP) said he was arrested while extorting money from some members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at Oshodi.

    Egbeyemi said the suspect was caught wearing the police original cardigan and identity card.

    Preliminary investigations, he said, revealed that the cardigan and identity card belonged to his late father, who was an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) before he died last year.

    Egbeyemi explained that the suspect who lives 37, Anjorin Street, Shasha, Egbeda removed his late father’s passport from the identity card and re-laminated it with his own passport.

    The suspect has been charged to court.

  • Fake medical report

    Fake medical report

    •We demand prosecution of culprits who do not want Ngilari to serve his deserved punishment

    The reported connivance between the officer-in-charge of the Yola Prison, DCP Abubakar Abaka and a nurse, SP John Bukar, to concoct a medical report, with which the Adamawa State High Court granted the former Adamawa State Governor, Bala Ngilari, a post-conviction bail, underscores the depth of corruption within the prison services. It is good that the prison authority has queried the two, who obviously acted beyond their powers. We demand a thorough investigation and appropriate trial if they are indicted, to stem the abuse of privileges by prison officials, in addition to the administrative process.
    Considering the depravity of our political actors in matters of public corruption, Nigerians are appalled that the two officials, for reasons best known to them, acted to defeat the essence of the conviction meted out to Ngilari by Justice Nathan Musa; who on March 6 sentenced him to five years imprisonment without the option of fine. The court had convicted Ngilari for violating the public procurement act in the purchase of 25 vehicles for N167million. The conviction had made headlines because it was the first time that a politically exposed high official of state in the present dispensation was sentenced to prison after a formal trial.
    While Ngilari had appealed his conviction, he had the onus to convince the court why he should be granted bail pending the determination of the appeal. To secure that order of bail, the two named officials reportedly connived to write reports claiming that the former governor was suffering from diabetes, hypertension and insomnia. The nurse, reportedly acting on the instruction of Abaka, wrote to the court, claiming that the convict was going to the Canadian Hospital in the United Arab Emirate for medical attention. It is important that the authorities find out what gave the two the impetus to engage in such callous impetuosity against the country, and the institution they represent.
    This incident confirms the manifest corruption in the Nigeria Prison Service (NPS). Obviously our prison officials use their privileged positions to ridicule our criminal justice system. It is such abuse that creates prisoners who live in prison with servants, in separate quarters, eating personal meals and other privileges which the majority don’t share. We read report of prisoners who host the opposite sex in prisons, or who turn female inmates into sex partners. We also read of prisoners who are allowed to visit home regularly or serve their term mostly in the hospital, in the guise of being sick.
    These abuses are common among the very important personality (VIP) prisoners, who after doing the society untold hardship by corrupt practices, turn their evil machinations to destroy every institution of state that tries to hold them accountable. Even the sentencing of Ngilari raised eyebrows, as the judge, for reasons best known to him, gave the convict the latitude to choose the prison where he would serve his sentence. It is possible that it was such ridiculous favour by the court that encouraged DCP Abaka and SP Bukar to treat Ngilari as a special prisoner, just like the court did.
    Yet, there is a report that over 68,000 inmates are languishing in various prisons across the country. Regrettably, reports show that most of the prisoners are detained pending the conclusion of their trial, commonly referred to as awaiting-trial-men. We reiterate our push for a review of our criminal justice system, to gift it efficiency. From investigation, to prosecution, to trial, to confinement before and upon conviction, there is the urgent need for rejig. In the meantime, we urge the prison authority to undertake an audit of its processes.

  • Fake American remanded for ‘scamming’ US woman

    In Igbosere High Court, Lagos has remanded a suspected internet fraudster, Gbenga Yusuf John, for allegedly scamming an American woman of ‘thousands of dollars’ while posing as a United States (US) aid worker in Nigeria.

    Justice A. M. Nicol-Clay made the order following John’s arraignment on Monday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and forgery.

    The EFCC said John, while posing as a US citizen James Carter, conned an unnamed American woman whom he met on a dating site by claiming that he owned a number of rental properties in Southwest Florida, US.

    He allegedly told her that he was in Africa to give aid to victims of Ebola disease and sought her assistance in managing his rental deposit in America while he was away.

    Consequently, the victim allegedly processed the rental deposits and received thousands of dollars in postal money order mailed directly to her by the suspect.

    The victim allegedly deposited all the cheques, acquired cash and transferred the funds through Western Union to Yusuf.

    One of the counts reads: “Gbenga Yusuf John on or about the February 26, 2006 in Lagos within the Lagos Judicial Division, had in your possession a document dated Tuesday, February 3, 2015 in which you represented yourself as James Carter, born and raised in the United States of America but presently resident in Nigeria where you are doing an electronic business which representation you knew or ought to have known to be false having regard to the circumstances of this case.”

    The defendant pleaded not guilty.

    Prosecution counsel M. Aliyu, asked applied for a trial date and prayed that the defendant be remanded in prison custody.

    Defence counsel S.O. Obaje, who did object to the prosecution’s submissions, pleaded for a short date to file his application for bail.

    Justice Nicol-Clay remanded the defendant and adjourned till June 20 for hearing of the bail application and the continuation of trial.

  • Fake this, fake that

    Fake this, fake that

    From fake tyres to fake cosmetics. And now, fake diesel 

    One question that always comes to my mind whenever any negative news is reported about Nigeria is: how did we get to this sorry pass? In my undergraduate days, when we were discussing the new world information order, and we (Third World peoples) accused the developed countries’ media of concentrating only on negative things about us, I had always asked myself if we were not being unduly hypocritical. The reason is simple: even in our own media in Nigeria for example, as far back as that time, what dominated the media were negative stories. As a matter of fact, many editors would tell you that nothing sells like bad news. Today, if we do content analysis of our media, we discover that the top stories are the negative ones.

    Anyway, this piece is not about all that.

    Not many people were surprised to hear, last month, that two Chinese allegedly imported about N5billion worth of substandard tyres into Nigeria. We have always known that. What we have not always done is arrest the culprits. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) which made the disclosure said the tyres were stored in a warehouse near Navy Town in the Satellite area of Lagos State. As with other such products that find their way into the country, the importers of the tyres not only brought in the sub-standard products but adorn them with new labels and shiny linings to create the impression that they are new. The Chinese, Taolung Shen and Xu Jing Yao as well as their suspected Nigerian accomplice, Chinedu Madubuike, were arraigned last week alongside two companies, Sino Nigeria Limited and Nedeca International Limited. Madubuike was however arraigned in absentia as his counsel, Mr. Napoleon Nwachukwu, told the court that he was “seriously” sick.

    SON’s Director-General and Chief Executive, Osita Aboloma, said while conducting journalists round the warehouse that such tyres could jeopardise the lives of Nigerians, especially because as many as five tyres were stuffed into one. Not only that, they are crudely separated on arrival in the country. These, added to the fact that the quality of the tyres would have been compromised, given the long journey by sea from China to Nigeria make the integrity of the products suspect. Even when they arrive the country, the tyres are not properly stored. All of these have implications for the vehicles and lives of those who buy or travel using those tyres. As we all know, tyres are the only component that connect vehicles to roads. We can only imagine why some people would spend about five billion naira on such illicit and murderous trade.

    Perhaps the Chinese would not have found the substandard tyre business lucrative if we had not allowed the tyre manufacturers that were operating here (until they could no longer bear the inclement business climate) to leave our shores. Perhaps they would not have been in the multi-billion naira business if only those in government had played their part well. Having allowed Dunlop and Michelin to relocate, something must fill the space they left because nature abhors a vacuum. This is not to justify the killer instinct of those in the illicit trade, but we must also get to a point where we ask those who (sometimes) fought bitter struggles to get to leadership positions in this country as if they are interested in our welfare to account for their stewardship. Who could ever imagine that some people would want to identify with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at this point in time? But here we are, with people still fighting acrimoniously to hold on to whatever is left of the moribund party! A thing I find highly disgusting and contemptuous of Nigerians.

    Again, barely two weeks after the sub-standard tyre story broke, SON made another discovery involving an importer, Joseph Udeh, owner of Jouf Nigeria Limited, located at No. 10 Faith Street, off Comfort Oboh Street, Kirikiri Road, Apapa, Lagos, who allegedly deals in importation and selling of popular cosmetic products. SON has accused Udeh of allegedly changing the expired dates on the products to new ones. But he said he had been calling the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to come and destroy the products but they hardly turned up and when they did, they destroyed only some of the products.

    But NAFDAC has dismissed this as bunkum. Mrs Christy Obiazikwor of NAFDAC said: “What he is saying is not even logical. If he invited NAFDAC to destroy the products, why is he then changing label on them?” Aboloma asked the appropriate question when he said: “Imagine a product that should be used in wrapping up a baby in 2017 has expired in 2015, what will be the effect on the baby, of course it would be negative reaction on the baby.

    “We have baby powders that have expired since 2013 and four years after, the products are still going into the market. When they sell, they remove the expiry dates and put new dates to deceive the unsuspecting consumers and when you buy these products, you think they are products that can help you, not knowing that they are products that would cause you all sorts of diseases.”

    And this … Just last week, another company that allegedly specialises in the sale of adulterated diesel was uncovered, again, in Lagos. According to one of the arrested workers, they sell about N20million of the adulterated product daily and each of the workers get between N3,000 and N4,000 daily. Only God knows how many engines they would have damaged due to their own greed. But it is instructive that this business is taking place right close to the seat of power in Lagos, Alausa. Indeed, that the three incidents are all happening in Lagos shows the audacity of the people involved. It is also a pointer to what could be happening in the remote parts of the country. One should wonder why someone who could make N20million daily cannot do legit business.

    Apparently these people are cashing in on the high cost of diesel, if the allegation against them is true. And this might not have been necessary if government had done the rightful by ensuring that we produce petroleum products locally.

    However, what all these fake this, fake that tell us is that we need to strengthen the agencies responsible for their prevention and apprehension of those who want to make money, even at grave risks to the lives of their compatriots. Something must be wrong with us for people to find our country a haven for fake product makers. The merchants of death in our midst have sent many people to untimely graves. They are the ones responsible for drugs that won’t cure what they are made to cure. Then, we start blaming witches in the village. When the importers are not telling the manufacturers abroad to reduce the active ingredients to enable them make more profit, they fake the drugs outright, or change the labels of expired ones to give the impression that they have not expired.

    But all of these are symptoms of a larger sickness that has gripped the nation: the collapse of moral values. This is why people want to make money at all cost; not minding the consequence to themselves (if caught), and others if they succeed in pushing the products into the market. The larger society is not without blame as it also worships money without knowing the source or even caring about how it was made. Ultimately, it ends up the victim

    Government agencies responsible for checking these illicit trades have to redouble their efforts. The government must empower them if their effects are to be felt. Those already apprehended must be duly prosecuted even as the security agencies keep sniffing for other purveyors of death in the country.

  • SGF to explain how fake firms got N1.3b contracts

    SGF to explain how fake firms got N1.3b contracts

    Senator Sani states why panel summoned Babachir Lawal

    Many companies awarded contracts by the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) cannot be located, a senator alleged yesterday.

    Senator Shehu Sani, Chairman, Senate adhoc committee on mounting humanitarian crisis in the North East, told reporters in Abuja that over 20 companies were involved in the phony contracts.

    Of the about N1.3 billion jobs awarded, the most controversial is the N220 million contract for the removal of wild grass and provision of 115 hectares of simplified irrigation in Yobe State, awarded to Rholavision Engineering Limited. The firm is linked  to Lawal.

    The Kaduna Central lawmaker, who described the development as “strange”, said that the inability of his committee to trace the addresses of the firms reinforced its desire to interact with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir David Lawal, who headed PINE.

    Sani said: “Meanwhile, you should understand that we are not investigating the SGF alone. We are investigating contracts that were awarded under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) and over 20 companies were involved.

    “But something very strange is the fact that some of these companies in these contracts we couldn’t actually trace their addresses.

    “We went there but we couldn’t find them. So the option before us is that it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for us to find some of these names here.”

    He added: “One of the persons we invited happens to be the SGF and his invitation followed the events that came after the interim report was tendered before the Senate and that was in his own claim that he was not given a fair hearing.

    “He sent a second letter asking for another opportunity to appear before us and he sent a letter to the committee through the leadership of the Senate and that letter overrides any other rumours you may have heard before.

    “Like all other persons, I read it on the pages of the newspapers that he went to court but we have never been served any letter on any legal action as far as we are concerned .

    “Before then, we also received a letter from the MD of Rolavision who said he was bereaved but the official letter is the one we received from the SGF, which he signed himself and he graciously told us that he needs a new date, based on the fact that the date that was set for today was not convenient for him. So that was the reason I tendered the letter in plenary.

    “We need to be meticulous because reputations and lives of people are concerned and it is on that background that on the final phase of the report, we have to do a thorough job.

    “We have our papers on the ground and we are set to invite all those persons. It was supposed to be today but, of course, it couldn’t happen. We assure the members of the public through the media that we are going to announce the next date for the public hearing.

    “But we are assuring Nigerians that we will discuss with the Senate to give us a convenient date that he is going to come because he is the head of this PINE and the companies that are associated with these contracts are known.

    “But we said we appreciate his humility due to the fact that what was stated on the pages of the newspapers was not correct.

    “In this time when there is a frosty relationship between the parliament and appointees of this government, I believe that this is a new phase – signing the letter himself, sending it to us, requesting for a new date. I think he has been humble and we are going to consider his request.

    “Well, the most important thing is that we have received the letter before the hearing and he has apologised to others for the inconveniences caused, but the issue is that we can’t afford to talk to others without him here because it would amount to simply coming out with a second report for which we will be accused of not giving some people a fair hearing.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang,  said the insinuation of friction between the Executive and the Legislature was false.

    Enang told reporters that the Executive had great respect for the institution of the Senate.

    He said: “Let me state that the executive has great respect for the institution of the Senate and the distinguished senators themselves and that is why the SGF personally wrote and signed the letter requesting for a rescheduling of the meeting and not saying he would not come.

    “He is requesting for a rescheduling and the letter has been delivered and presented before the committee.

    “Once again, I say that we have great respect for the institution of the Senate, the National Assembly and indeed the legislature.

    “I am sure you haven’t had any heat about the 2017 budget because the executive and the legislature are working together.

    “I just want to say that what is happening is that the political space is active, not that it is tense.

    “It is active and showing that the legislature is concentrating on its work. The executive is being put under pressure in respect of what it should do and this is what is expected of the legislature under a democracy.

    “So, Nigerians should accept that there is nothing abnormal in this situation. It has been hotter than this at other times, but we are doing everything to make sure that the temperature doesn’t get higher than this.”

  • Curbing the menace of imported fake products

    Curbing the menace of imported fake products

    Unwholesome food and products get into the country with ease, provoking the question: what are agencies at the ports doing? It is believed that if the agencies are up and doing, such items would not pass through. Assistant Editor Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie writes.

    Fake and substandard products keep streaming into the country despite the army of agencies at the ports. Such products include plastic rice from China, Indian gari, jollof rice, varieties of Nigerian local soups and substandard tyres from China. The substandard tyres estimated at over N5billion were found in a warehouse in Lagos. They have since been seized by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

    These confiscated products are life- threatening. Observers are calling for the return of critical agencies hitherto removed from the ports in the heat of port reforms to go back to their duty posts to protect the lives of the citizenry.

    Following the outrage in the case of the Indian gari, the National Agency for Food Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) raided the shop located on Cameron Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. The public wondered how it was allowed to enter the country. But NAFDAC came out strongly, stating that the product does not have their number.

    “The product has no NAFDAC number. It is said to come from Ghana but packaged in the United Kingdom. The management of the supermarket has been invited for further discussion in our Lagos office and investigation continues,” NAFDAC Acting Director-General, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, said in a message.

    Other agencies, such as the SON, have been calling on the government to allow them return to the ports, arguing that it is in the interest of the nation for them to return. They argued that as a result of their critical functions in preventing life-threatening imports, it might not be in the best interest of the nation to be asked to leave the ports with other not so critical agencies.

    In the height of Port Reforms of the previous administration, the government banned over 28 agencies, leaving only six to man the ports and ease the port clearance process. Affected in the shake-up, were SON, Directorate of Naval Intelligence, Nigerian Plant Quarantine Services, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.

    In an interview with The Nation, SON Director of Monitoring & Compliance, Mr. Bede Obayi, an engineer, said they have a mandate to ensure that whatever is imported complies with the nation’s standards requirements, stressing that it will be a mistake if their services are dispensed with in the name of port reforms.

    He said: “We look out for accountability and also ensure that we stop false declaration by importers. We are asking for placement of priority in government policies that will ensure that quality and standards take their pride of place. Our mandate is not to ascertain if an importer has paid duties on his imports but to ensure that what he has imported does not impair the lives of the citizenry.”

    Obayi called for efficiency at the ports by canvassing for a window for all regulators at the ports. According to him, the greatest challenge for SON is that of contending with fake bill of lading from importers on daily basis. He recalled how a businessman imported substandard cables which can ignite fire at homes and offices and wrongly labelled them as agriculture equipment. He said it was only when they did a scientific test that they discovered how dangerous the products were.

    Few weeks ago, SON also intercepted 60 containers of fake tryes worth N5 billion imported by two Chinese nationals and their collaborators after they had passed the checks at the port. This grave lapse, observers said, was a consequence of not having the right agencies at the point of entry.

    During a tour led by the SON’s Director-General, Osita Aboloma, to Alakija, about two million imported tyres were seen in a warehouse beside the popular Navy Town in the area.

    According to Aboloma, the Chinese importers, who gave their names as Tanlong Shen and Xu Jing Yao, were bust through inter-agency collaboration and intelligence received from “well-meaning Nigerians” after they had been cleared from the port.

    “We acted on the intelligence we received from well-meaning Nigerians. This was achieved as a result of inter-agency collaboration.You can see volume of tyres brought in and you can imagine the implication for our society if these tyres are let into the market,” he said.

    The SON chief said the sub-standard tyres which were shipped  from China, were post-dated to make them appear road-worthy. He criticised the way the tyres were packaged, noting that it is only SON that knows the implication of the worthiness of the tyres and should have been at the point of entry to disallow it from entering the country in the first place.

    “The fact that up to five of them were being tucked into one, with operators using rods to separate them from one another when they reached Nigeria, the tyres will naturally become substandard. This is because in the course of separating them from the squeeze, the wires and geometrics of the tyres will be affected,” he said.

    He wielded the big stick, assuring though that they might not be at the ports. The arrested persons would be prosecuted under the new SON Act,” he added.

    At a seminar on Port Reforms organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), former NBA president, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, and discussants criticised the large number of regulatory agencies at the ports, corruption, poor infrastructure and the government’s indecision on implementing robust policies that will drive the sector.

    He called for the harmonisation of all regulatory bodies at the ports, stressing the need for one window to remove bottlenecks in ports operations.

    LCCI Director of Research and Advocacy, Dr. Vincent Nwani, in his paper titled: “Nigeria: Reforming the maritime sector,” said estimates from the Chamber’s research show that trillions of Naira in revenue is lost yearly within the port and business community as a result of inefficiencies and inherent shortcomings of the nation’s maritime ports.

    According to him, unfriendly business environment, such as the situation we have in the ports, continue to undermine the capacity of investors to maximise abundant trade and democratic opportunities in Nigeria.

    He noted that 48-hour target set by the government is still far from being achieved.

    He said: “Speedy processing of import and export documents by relevant agencies are important elements of trade facilitation process. It is also a major variable in the 2016 World Bank ease of Doing Business ranking in which Nigeria ranked very low at 169 out of 185 countries profiled. This has made it very difficult to achieve any of the port reform objectives set by the past political administration.”

    He called for technology and innovative solutions, the establishments of national trade data centre, implementation of a single window platform including the passage of the pending bills at the National Assembly to stimulate the maritime sector.

  • Now, fake yam flour?

    •Time to strengthen regulatory mechanism

    The country seems enmeshed in failure of regulation, especially in respect of food processing. If it was not about importation of fake medications, it was about importation of fake petrol, tyres, or imported gari (cassava flour)that has evaded the eyes of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The latest entrant into the group of substandard products in the country is adulterated yam flour.

    The Vice Chancellor, Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Prof. Christian Anieke, disclosed at the 4thconvocation ceremony of the university that the university has discovered adulterated yam flour in the market. Enugu is one of the major yam-producing states in the country.  Describing results of the university’s project of DNA analysis and sequencing of tropical fishes, plants, and yam species, Prof Anieke affirmed: “The sequencing of various yam species has helped us in separating the sheep from the goat, by discovering a lot of adulterated yam flour products with the DNA sequencing tools… If we really want to achieve good standard in food production and make agriculture a big foreign exchange earner, we must address the issue of fake products.”

    It is normal for universities to use convocations to market their achievements, but the claims made by Prof Anieke should not be dismissed as public relations, despite her failure to give useful details about her institution’s research on yam. For example, governments, regulatory agencies, and citizens would have benefited immensely from additional information about items used to adulterate yam flour, the scope of adulteration, and areas from which samples were collected. It is, however, reassuring that the vice chancellor pledged that her “institution is ready to work with government agencies in the analysis of farm products to ensure their sanctity and harmlessness.” The degree of sanctity or harmlessness of confirmed adulteration should have been included in the university’s announcement, because such information may be crucial to the health of citizens.

    Even as skeletal as the information about marketing of fake yam flour is, it is enough to wake up relevant regulatory agencies. Just like imported gari, yam flour on sale seems to have evaded the notice of SON and NAFDAC. This development is dangerous for the health of Nigerians. For example, what if other flours added to yam flour include material from toxic flours? The agencies established to protect the health of citizens need to be more vigilant than they have been. If they had been, they would have discovered that yam flour in the market is adulterated long before Godfrey University did and perhaps warned buyers against such fake yam flour.

    Given the news of exponential increase in the number of fake or adulterated products in the country, we enjoin the government to make regulatory agencies perform their functions well. NAFDAC and SON were established to protect the health and safety of citizens and there should be no excuse for failure on their part in ensuring that food processing meets the highest standards. The call by Godfrey Okoye University for collaboration with regulatory agencies has come at the right time. We urge regulatory agencies to engage universities with cutting-edge methods of analysing food products.

    Sustaining compliance with ethics in business is fundamental to law and order.  Greed on the part of some individuals in business must have led some food companies to adulterate products sold to innocent buyers. Agencies created to police business ethics and quality assurance must fulfill their role by conducting prompt analysis of food products and sanctioning those who fail to meet safety standards. Such intervention is a sine qua non for modern societies.

    While commending Godfrey Okoye University for sharing the results of its research with the public, we urge all research institutions to popularise discoveries that have implications for citizens’ health, without having to wait for convocations. Any delay in releasing such vital information may harbour avoidable danger.